Some years back when Yugoslavia first started falling apart and the war 
was taking place in northern Croatia, there was concern as to what happened 
to the Lipizzans that had been at Lipice.  One of the questions was whether 
there were any Lipizzan bloodlines that were represented only at Lipica.
     At about that time, I managed to get hold of a library copy of a book on 
the Lipica horses, "Lippizaner" by Milan Dolenc.  The following compilation 
is based largely on that book, and was created with view to having a look at 
the various bloodlines.  There was quite a bit of other historical 
information that didn't make it into the summary, and if your library has the 
book or can get it in time for your report, it's definitely worth looking 
through. One thing though must be kept in mind: Dolenc is prejudiced in favor 
of Lipica and the - then - Yugoslav point of view regards Lipizzans.  You 
will find that there are essentially two views on the subject:
     1)  the Austrian view
     2)  everybody else's view...
     You'll find the names of the classic Lipizzan stallion lines in the 
later summary of Dolenc's book.  During the time Lipizza was under Austrian 
control, there were also the Austrian-approved mare lines. New stallions were 
introduced very occasionally to improve the breed, and from the looks of it, 
new mare lines were established a bit more often.  It would be nice to know 
just what the selection of mares was based on, because I don't think an 
outstanding mare had to be Lipizzan or part Lipizzan.  But, I don't know.  
There must have been numerous outstanding mares that were repeatedly bred to 
Lipizzan stallions in the hope to establish another mare line, just to find 
that the resulting foals didn't meet the criteria - something that might take 
years to determine.  (Like, the foals might grow into horses with the right 
looks, but would they have the abilities?  Would their offspring?  
yways...)
     Now then, let me try to fill in a few gaps from memory.
     The Lipizzan breed was established by order of the ruling Hapsburg 
dynasty some time in the 1700's, by breeding "local mares" (which means from 
the general area of Lipica, which back then was called Lipizza) to a selected 
few Andalusian, Arab, etc. stallions.  It is my understanding that while the 
main stud farm was at Lipizza, there were others scattered throughout the 
Austrian empire.  I remember hearing of at least one in Hungary, and at least 
one - Kladrub - in what was later Czechoslovakia.  In Kladrub, they were 
breeding Lipizzans intended as carriage horses. There were also several 
locations in the later Yugoslavia.  Some of these places the Lipizzans got to 
while being shuffled around to evade local conflicts, others may have started 
out as lesser Lipizzan stud farms.  The Austrian rulers rode Lipizzans, and 
occasionally would give some away as a gift or honor.  Many of the "Airs 
Above the Ground" were developed from the necessities of the battlefield.  
The Spanish Riding School in Vienna was built early on, originally as an 
indoor riding arena (I guess emperors like them fancy...) and since 
then there were always talented Lipizzan stallions being trained there.
     At the end of World War I, the area of Lipizza was lost to the Italians, 
and the horses - all or some of them - were moved to the newly established 
stud farm at Piber (near Graz, the capital of the state of Styria, southeast 
of Vienna).  There continued to be a stud farm at Lipizza, but now governed 
by the Italians and presumably Italian rules. If I remember, the Italians 
tended to breed a heavier type of Lipizzan, though I'm not sure whether that 
was at Lipizza or elsewheres.
     With the approaching end of World War II, the Germans evacuated the 
Lipizza, Piber and Vienna horses (and other valuable horses) and moved them 
to a place called Hostau (I think), and eventually the horses were marched 
towards the American lines - to escape capture by the Russian army - and 
surrendered to Patton's forces.
     Following the end of the war, the Americans distributed the horses - 
presumably as fairly as possible - between the claimants:  Some horses went 
to Yugoslavia in whose domain Lipizza (now renamed Lipica) was after 1945.  
Some horses went to Italy.  Some horses went to Austria. Presumably some went 
to Czechoslovakia.
     All these places at least occasionally would sell horses;  Austria 
tended to sell some that were not essential for their breeding program (in 
short, individuals that were not outstanding).  Lipica may have sold some 
really good individuals in periods of financial crisis.  Italy and whoever 
else, who knows?
     These days there are Lipizzans all over the world.  Their owners and 
breeders will all insist those horses are genuine Lipizzans.  I expect there 
are breed associations - maybe national, maybe worldwide - that would tell 
you the same.  Except for the Austrians... Last I heard, the Austrians 
still only recognize "their" Lipizzaners. Though the Austrians must have 
found a way around that when they had to bring in outside Lipizzan mares 
following the herpes outbreak that left so many of the Austrian Lipizzan 
mares barren, some time in the 1980's.
Karin
 * OLX 2.1 TD * I may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain. 
--- InterEcho 1.15
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